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Dragon age 2, second opinions

What could have been

I've just finished my first playthrough of Dragon Age 2. I played a noble, dagger weilding assassin. I tried to be the best hero that I could and help out those in need.

Overall, I did enjoy the game. The dilogue is great. A lot of the quests really give the player some tough choices. There are many, many quests that require decisions that have no right or wrong answer. Just gut instinct. Yes there is a dialogue wheel, but there are plenty of decisions that are not tied to good-neutral-evil. Most of the people complaining about the dialogue wheel missed that there are over 14 emotions tied to character decisions, not including quests that have multiple outcomes depending on the party members you bring.

Most of the compliments/complaints I have read about the game are personal preference and that's not what I'm here to discuss. You see, Dragon Age 2 could have been a great game. It could have been right up there with the Rpg classics. But there is one kink that is holding it back. The recycled environments.

A person who reads this would think "plenty of games are guilty of backtracking and reusing levels". Any person thinking that would be completely correct. My problem is that Due to either lack of inspiration, lack of funds, or because the game was rushed to release, we face the problem of recycled maps. Normaly this would not bother me, but Dragon Age 2 takes recycling maps to a level I have never seen before.

For example, every quest that takes place in hightown has the same map. The quests are designed so that even though you are in the same map, different doors cannot be interacted with. This allows the developer to shuffle you along whatever path they want. You may get a quest to kill a gang in a large estate, But you can only walk into the entrance and the main stairwell, every other door is closed and cannot be opened. Every gang fight in low town takes place in the same alley.

It got to the point where when i would recieve a quest, I knew exactly where it would be simply because that is where the last 3 quests were also completed. The Southern tip of the wounded coast is a perfect example, as is the southern part of Darktown.

The game sometimes sends you on quests to find hidden passages. Every one of these caves is either the generic cave map, with certain areas closed off for certain quests, or a dungeon that resembles the deep roads.

After Act 1. The next 20 hours you will spend ( It took me 49 hours for my first playthrough on hard mode) will be killing in the same caves, same estate, same factory, same sewer. The worst part about this is that I am not over exaggerating. The recycling of maps is simply astounding.

I feel like this game was kind of rushed through developement. There are more than enough side quests to justify creating new areas (Lack of locations is another common complaint).

Dragon Age 2 really should have had 1 more year in developement to fully finish the game. I hope they realize this for Dragon Age 3.

But please, don't let this blog change your mind on purchasing DA2. It really is a solid game with a solid story and fun gameplay. As a AAA gaming company, Bioware should have done a better job and not overused the maps. I'm not dissapointed in what DA2. I'm more dissapointed in that DA2 could have been amazing instead of just good.

Comments (9)

Paul

I wondered about that. Many people complained about the recycled maps so it is the one stone that drops repeatedly. I miss the days developers were given a little more time. Maybe we're falling into that nasty trap of "Faster! I want it now!" while developers are thinking "Getting more money for less polish, oh yeah! Chop Chop! Hurry it up slaves!"

I'm sure it's a little bit of both

Honestly though, I really do enjoy the game very much. That map thing really ruins some of the immersion for me. While I do want awesome games faster, I would rather let the developer finish an awesome product instead of getting an unpolished game that has amazing potential.

I pray they don't rush mass effect 3. That would just kill the trilogy for me :(

Agreed.

I definitely feel like Bioware was either rushed or they hit an extreme patch of laziness. The amount of recycled maps is astounding in this day of gaming technology, but what I did to alleviate some of this was to vary my quests as much as possible. I.E. Check out lowtown for new quests then head over to the docks for a quest, then the wounded coast, and then back to lowtown. That doesn't make it excusable, but it helped me not get lulled to sleep from drudging through the same exact areas.

While the recycled maps are a bit of a bummer

I still think the game is fantastic. The hate this game is getting I feel is completely unwarranted. As good as DA:O was the combat was too slow (slow != strategic) and as big as the world was the world was just plain ugly. Those were both fixed in DA2 even if it still isn't the prettiest game ever.

My biggest gripe with DA2 is that some achievements seem to be gliched (supplier) and all the DLC achievement don't unlock either. What can I say? I'm kind of an achievement whore.

And since I'm on the topic of glitched DLC. Way to go Capcom. Thanks for giving me an invalid code for my SE purchase of MvC3. I didn't want those two characters anyway /s.

Yes sir

I'm on my second playthrough as a Warrior. Maybe I'll go 2 handed reaver...Most of the hate people are giving, especially saying it was dumbed down , is not true. People are complaining about things that are personal preference and not incontrovertable truth. I'd consider it more as "trimming the fat" and get rid of things that felt unneccessary.

Although I did like changing my party members armor and what not. In terms of talent trees, I enjoyed the game much more, especially the different amount of playstyles for each class.

Most of the hate seem to come from people who didn't get a slower Classic Rpg, althought the term crpg is pretty relative and people argue on the definition of that as well.

Suspension of disbelief

when games are as good as this one, i play through them several times, so im used to going through the same area many times. With DA2, it just happened alot sooner. It is disapointing, but it never bothered me or ruined the experience.

That being said, it is curious they made this decision (especially after the ME1 backlash for the exact same problem). Im no game designer, but how hard could it have been to add a few extra areas?

over all good game

But....... as you have allready posted recycled maps from a developer who brought us origins and mass effect 1 and 2 is unacceptable, they should want to be about quality, thats like Bethsada having skyrim in the same world as oblivion ,and by the way oblivion elder scrolls is by far the best rpg I have ever played and im 45 yrs young and the only one better would be final fantasy not sure of the number but the one with aireal im mean a game that made me cry wow ,and maybe some old school zelda 1 and 2 link to the past ,but short of that oblivion all the way ,any way i guess i like boulders gate (pc) so much, that may be why the attraction to origins was there ,but frankly i would rather have the crappy graphics and a great game, then great graphics and a bad game, lol

Glad you were able to find enjoyment in the Convo's

I agree with what you said, part of what made DA 2 so frustratring was its potential and its inablilty to reach it. However I am glad to hear that you enoyed the conversations as it was cetainly one of the hilights of the games.